Sunday, March 23, 2014

The Rabbinate's Unreasonable Standard for Conversions

How far must a potential convert go to please a court that
will convert them? In what has to be one of the clearest departures from common decency
regarding conversions, the Israel Chief Rabbinate has once again disappointed
me.

The primary requirements of conversion are as follows. Circumcision
(for men), immersion in a Mikva and a declaration that they intend to follow the
Mitzvos of the Torah. Even if they do not know what those Mitzvos are and will
be in violation of many of them after they convert, once these requirements are
executed they are accepted as full fledged Jews. We are only required to inform
them of a few basics before the actual conversion. They then continue to learn more and do more after the conversion. If upon conversion a convert immediately violates all
Halachos. He is called a Yisroel Mumar – a blemished (sinning) Jew but still a
Jew in every respect.

It should be noted that there is some controversy about the
need for the acceptance of Mitzvos. But for purposes of this discussion, let us stipulate that this is indeed a requirement. That is in fact how the vast
majority of conversion courts operate.

It should also be noted that Rav Moshe Feinstein who was by
many considered the Posek HaDor ruled that any potential convert that declared his
intent to observe Mitzvos and then after the ceremony would celebrate by violating
clear Halacha that they promised to follow – such as eating a non Kosher meal –
that is the strongest evidence that their declarations were insincere and that
their conversions were not legitimate.

Which brings me to the situation at hand.

As reported in the Forward, 23 year old Alin Levy is the product
of an intermarriage.
Her parents are immigrants from the former Soviet Union. She was 4 at the time
of their arrival in Israel. Her father is
Jewish. Her mother is not. But she is not just a person that wants to be Jewish
in name only. She wants the full
package. To that extent she strated becoming observant. From the Forward:

Alin said she had felt Jewish all her life in Israel. It was
during her military service that she began to be troubled by that fact that as
far as the Chief Rabbinate was concerned, she was not Jewish.

It upset her that she wasn’t ‘officially’ considered a
member of the religion, and, according to the interview, she determined to
become a full-fledged kosher Jew, she began the procedure for Orthodox
conversion, studying Torah three hours each week, dressing modestly, making
blessings over her food and began to observe Shabbat. Asked if she might become
fully Orthodox in the end, she responded “I can’t rule it out.”

The process is standard operating procedure for secular
Israelis who want to complete conversion. In order to do so, they are required
to adopt a lifestyle that is far more observant to become Jewish in the eyes of
the stringent conversion court.

So far so good. But what happened next is in my view a
complete distortion of the requirements of conversion - even by the Rabbinate’s
standards. They informed her that her
career choice of becoming an actor was unacceptable and that they would not go
forward with the conversion if she continued on that path. Why? Here’s what
they said:

“An acting career does not go together with the
spirit of the religion.”

The best way to sum up their ‘reason’ is with the phrase ‘Es
Past Nisht’. Her goal of becoming a trained actor was deemed unacceptable. I do not recall that portion of the Shulchan
Aruch that says that becoming an actor is a disqualification for conversion. That’s
because it doesn’t exist.

There are reports that the Rabbinate has denied that this was their reason for the rejection. But if this story as reported in the Forward is true, this takes the rabbinate’s license to disqualify converts to a new low. It is an abuse of power. A low that rejects exactly the kind of people we should be
seeking to join us. People who should be role models for those of us who were
born Jewish and raised in observant homes. We take our Judaism for granted. And
many of us perform our religious duties by rote behavior. We do not have the
inspired drive and devotion of someone who
sees the beauty of Judaism to such an extent that they are willing to radically
change their lives to live a fully Jewish life.

Now I will admit that becoming an actor is not exactly the
most accommodating profession for observant Jews. In the case of a woman issues
of modesty are an additional complicating factor. So I understand why such a
career is completely frowned upon in the Charedi world. But it is not
impossible for a woman to be an actor and be fully observant - and even
Charedi. There are hundreds of
opportunities for women to perform before women only.

The rabbinate should not
be looking at how much they dislike a profession or how inappropriate it is for
a woman to be in it. What they should focus on is enforcing their own rules
about the sincerity of commitment to Halacha by the potential convert.

I therefore see absolutely no justification for the what the rabbinate has done. It is hurtful to the convert and it is hurtful to the Klal
in that it will discourage good people from even considering conversion.

And it isn’t even only acting that is a ‘forbidden’
profession for a potential convert. From the Forward:

“It is a complete absurdity” Farber said, for someone to be
rejected as a candidate for a conversion because of choosing a career in
acting, but he has seen similar occurences (sic).

“We’ve had people who work as nurses being told they
couldn’t convert because their job requires them to work shifts on the
Sabbath,” he said.

I guess the Rabbinate never heard of Frum nurses before. I
am once again disappointed with how the rabbinate is being run. I will not go
so far as to say it ought to be disbanded. I think a Jewish State needs an
official rabbinate that can decide religious issues. But not one like this.

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About Me

My outlook on Judaism is based mostly on the teachings of my primary Rebbe, Rabbi Aaron Soloveichik from whom I received my rabbinic ordination. It is also based on a search for spiritual truth. Among the various sources that put me on the right path, two great philosophic works stand out: “Halakhic Man” and “Lonely Man of Faith” authored by the pre-eminent Jewish philosopher and theologian, Rabbi, Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Of great significance is Rabbi, Dr. Norman Lamm's conceptualization and models of Torah U’Mada and Dr. Eliezer Berkovits who introduced me to the world of philosophic thought. Among my early influences were two pioneers of American Elementary Torah Chinuch, Rabbis Shmuel Kaufman and Yaakov Levi. The Yeshivos I attended were Yeshivas Telshe for early high school and more significantly, the Hebrew Theological College where for a period of ten years, my Rebbeim included such great Rabbinic figures as Rabbis Mordechai Rogov, Shmaryahu Meltzer, Yaakov Perlow, Herzl Kaplan, and Selig Starr. I also attended Roosevelt University where I received my Bachelor's Degree - majoring in Psychology.